The decision is the most recent development in a legal battle over whether the commission is required to select the two Fulton County Republican Party nominees for the board.Concerned about their qualifications and previous actions that questioned election results and registrations, commissioners rejected them in a party-line vote in May. In an attempt to force the commissioners to accept the nominations, the GOP filed a lawsuit against them.
One of the nominees, Jason Frazier, has filed thousands of challenges to voter registration in the Democratic bastion of Fulton. An incumbent member of the election board, Julie Adams, the other GOP nominee, voted against certifying the primary election from the previous year.
In his ruling, Emerson stated that if the panel fails to name the nominees at its upcoming meeting on Wednesday, he might think about holding them in contempt.
Attorney Thomas Trey Oliver, speaking for the Fulton County GOP, contended prior to Friday’s decision that the commission deliberately disregarded Emerson’s finding by failing to take into account the Republican nominees at their most recent board meeting.
Oliver stated that there is no question that the Fulton County GOP has suffered a great deal as a result of its inability to place its nominees on the board of elections. Money cannot be used to undo that damage.
The commission’s Amanda Clark-Palmer argued that the board is not obligated to appoint Adams and Frazier just because the county GOP nominated them.
“That vote must have some significance,” she added. The vote is up to the individual.
The duties of county election boards include establishing polling places, conducting and certifying elections, and identifying issues with voter eligibility.
Five people make up the Fulton Election Board: two Republicans and two Democrats nominated by their parties and appointed by the commissioners, plus a chair selected by the commission.
The Fulton GOP has already sued the commission over nominations to the election board. In 2023, after commissioners rejected Frazier, the party also sued the county. Later, the party dropped the lawsuit and chose Michael Heekin as their replacement for the electoral board.
The two GOP nominees have been involved in other election-related legal battles outside of this one.
Frazier sued the county election board in August of last year, claiming that the board had broken both state and federal laws by neglecting to regularly remove illegal voters from its registers. Additionally, he asserted that the county had failed to promptly address a recent challenge. A month later, Frazier willingly dropped the case.
According to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation, Adams and at least 18 electoral board members declined to certify election results from 2020 to 2024. However, following a court decision that certification is required, all election board members signed off on President Donald Trump’s victory last autumn. In the case, Adams was the principal plaintiff.
The commission appealed Emerson’s decision from last week to the Supreme Court of Georgia one day prior to Thursday’s session.
